


Bag End Games & Toys

by hoomhum



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bilbo owns a toy shop, F/F, Female Bilbo Baggins/Female Thorin Oakenshield, Gen, Loss of Parent(s), Multi, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 02:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13114275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoomhum/pseuds/hoomhum
Summary: A dwarf walks in to a hobbit owned shop, looking for a specific stuffed toy. She finds something else, as well.





	Bag End Games & Toys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seashadows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seashadows/gifts).



> This work mentions the death of Bilbo's parents, which she is still dealing with. Please read with care.

HH FIC

 

“I hope you don’t mind meeting out here,” Bilbo said, glancing at her two dwarven visitors as she poured water from the electric kettle into the cups waiting on the counter beside the cash register. “I’d take you back to the office, but there’s no one else to mind the shop in case of customers.”

She smiled as she said it, hoping that her potential new business partners— Mr. Bofur and Mr. Bifur—wouldn’t suspect the truth: if today was anything like yesterday Bag End Games & Toys would be lucky to make another sale before closing. One per day seemed to be normal now, and she’d already sent a beautiful elven doll to its new home that morning.

That was why this meeting was so important. Perhaps new stock, the fantastically intricate wooden toys that the cousins created, would be just what the store needed to get back on its feet. Bilbo had seen their work at a craft fair in town on her only day off and had been immediately enchanted. Her mother would have loved them, would have wanted them in Bag End. She had to try.

“You run this place on your own?” Mr. Bofur asked. He had a friendly face, a much softer expression than she was used to seeing on dwarves, and perhaps that had helped her to screw up the courage to ask the cousins to meet about selling their toys. It certainly wasn’t Mr. Bifur’s demeanor, though she had seen his own expression gentle in the presence of children at their stall. Now he was watching Bilbo with such a gruff, impenetrable stare that she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d already offended him.

“It’s a family business.” She nudged the sugar bowl and milk toward them, though neither dwarf reached for their tea. “Or, it was. My father built this shop for my mother. They passed away a bit over a year ago and left it to me.”

Mr. Bifur grunted and took the tea. Bilbo consciously forced herself to release the tension in her shoulders and focused on smoothing the wrinkles out of her skirt.

“Your folks wouldn’t have minded having dwarf-made work on their shelves, would they?” Mr. Bofur pressed, the easy, friendly expression she had seen the previous week still missing in favor of a more serious countenance.

“Oh, no, of course not! I know what you must think—a hobbit family business, of course—but we’re not all as insular as that,” Bilbo rushed to assure him. “Bag End is a shop for all people.”

Much to her distress, Mr. Bofur still did not seem convinced. His cousin, Mr. Bifur, seemed content to drain his scalding cup of tea and then pick up a second. The bell over the door jingled as someone came in, but they moved quickly out of her sight. Bilbo tried not to perk up at that. Customers ought to be a regular appearances, not a surprise.

“I wouldn’t have invited you here if I didn’t want to sell your toys,” she went on, nose twitching as she reached for the sugar to doctor her own cup before Mr. Bifur drank it too. She’d offer him another if he wanted it, but goodness did she need one for herself right now!

“Look, your shop is very nice,” Mr. Bofur began, tone conciliatory, and Bilbo did her best not to deflate. She could hear that ‘thanks but no thanks’ a mile off. “But we don’t do business with just anyone and we’re not sure it’s a good fit.”

Mr. Bifur added something in sign language that Bilbo didn’t understand and which Mr. Bofur chose not to translate. Instead he tipped his cap at her.   
  
“Our thanks for the tea. You have a good day, now.”

The two moved away from the counter, leaving Bilbo to clear away the tea service and brood. She wondered if perhaps  she should have asked them if _they_ minded their toys being marketed in a hobbit run shop. Surely that wasn’t it, right? Though if anything, according to stereotypes and rumors she tried very hard not to listen to, dwarves were even more insular than hobbits. Perhaps they’d only agreed to meet her out of pity.

“Do you work here?” Directly in front of her face someone waved a hand. Bilbo stepped back immediately, blushing slightly at her own inattentiveness.

“Yes! I do, yes, I’m so sorry.” She looked up and was surprised to find she didn’t have too look too far. In front of her was another dwarf, this one with dark hair and light blue eyes that were narrowed in an annoyed stare. Bilbo’s brain short-circuited as she took in the dwarf, who was really too lovely to be allowed. It was only the frustration in the dam’s stare that had her immediately rebooting. “Can I help you with something?”

“You sell Rhosgobel Animals.”

Though it was phrased as a statement rather than a question, Bilbo nodded, hoping to be helpful.

“We do, yes. I can show you where—“

“I found them myself. You don’t have any Wargs?”

Bilbo frowned at being interrupted and at the dwarf’s abrupt manner, but was determined not to let this interaction get away from her.

“No, I believe the Warg line was discontinued some time ago. We have wolves, though, and other dogs, I could show—“

“I need this one.”

Bilbo blinked as a mobile was thrust under her nose. On the screen was a picture of a dwarf child, with fuzzy cheeks and wide eyes. The little one held a soft grey Rhosgobel Warg in a choke hold. It was beyond adorable.

Nevertheless, that didn’t change the fact that Rhosgobel hadn’t made Wargs in years, nor did she have any in the shop, despite periodically selling older toys.

“I’m sorry,” she said gently. Clearly the toy in the picture had been lost. “I don’t have any of those.”

The dwarf’s shoulders slumped as she pulled the phone back toward herself. “Dίs is going spare,” she muttered. “He won’t go to bed without it and it’s my fault. I’ve looked everywhere. I thought this place…”

Truth be told, Bilbo was surprised that her little shop was even on this dwarf’s radar, especially considering how poorly Bag End had been doing recently. She hesitated a moment, then gave a cautious nod.

“I might know someone who—well, if he doesn’t have one, he might know where to find one,” she said, fishing out her own mobile from the cubby beneath the register. “Do you mind if I give him a call?”

The dwarf nodded and stepped back to give her some space, which Bilbo deeply appreciated. It wasn’t often that she was flustered by others; those who knew her were well acquainted with her quick wit and refusal to take any nonsense. Somehow most of that confidence had left her this afternoon and Bilbo was trying very hard not to focus on just why that was.

Luckily, navigating a conversation with Radagast tended to necessitate all of her attention. Grateful that her potential customer was at least pretending to look at the other displays, Bilbo tried and failed to explain the reason for her call at least twice before getting through to the old man.

“No…” She drummed her fingers on the countertop, trying to control her temper. Then: “Yes? You do? Yes! Of course, tonight? I’m certainly amenable… Yes, alright… Yes, but—Radagast, I…” He kept interrupting her. Apparently it was the type of day for that sort of thing, she thought grumpily. “Yes, Radagast, tonight would be excellent. Come by at eight. Now I have a customer right in front of me so…”

Bilbo spotted a small smirk on the face of said customer in response to her clear exasperation. She rolled her eyes for effect and was rewarded with a muffled snort.

“Thank you, yes, I’ll see you later. Goodbye!” She rang off and dropped the phone to the countertop, briefly pressing her hands to her eyes. “Sorry about that. Radagast is… a character.”

“I could tell,” the dwarf replied, stepping back toward her. “But it sounded like…”

“I’ll have a Rhosgobel Warg ready for you when the shop opens tomorrow,” Bilbo confirmed with a smile. Her heart stuttered at the beautiful smile she got in return. “Could I have your contact information? Just in case something goes wrong?”

For strictly professional reasons, of course. Not because she wanted to know the dwarf’s name. Nevertheless, she was incredibly pleased when the woman retrieved a business card from her wallet.

“Thorin, at your service,” she said as she passed it over with a slight bow. Thorin. A lovely name to match a lovely dwarf, who was much more pleasant now that she wasn’t on a desperate quest for a stuffed toy.

“Bilbo Baggins, at yours,” Bilbo managed to stutter in reply after far, far, too long a pause. Her cheeks blossomed pink, but Thorin only smiled, nodded, and started for the door.

Bilbo whimpered, letting her head thump against the counter. She was smitten and there was no denying it.

“Miss Baggins?”

She straightened immediately, pink cheeks reddening further as she realized that Mr. Bofur and Mr. Bifur hadn’t exited the shop after all. In fact, they had approached the counter in Thorin’s absence.

“We’ll email you the contract. Send it back and we’ll deliver our first shipment before the week is out.”

 

~

The next day, Thorin found she couldn't concentrate at work. Even as she pored over the blueprints she was drafting, her mind kept wandering back to the little toy shop and the hobbit that ran it. Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit had said her name was. Had she been expecting Thorin to be there when the shop opened to pick up the toy? She'd gone through an awful lot of effort to locate one for Thorin, who had spent much of the previous day driving first to check the lost and found at the train station and the library, before stopping at every toy store in the city. 

The sales associates at the other stores, large chains that they were, had barely given her a glance. Granted, her scowl hadn't made her exactly approachable, but it had been a trying day. Miss Baggins hadn't seemed to mind Thorin's rudeness, had gone out of her way to help, and that just made Thorin feel even worse for her rude behavior.

Was she making too much of it? Keeping the shop was clearly Miss Baggins' job and making a sale was part of that job. Perhaps she had just been kind as a means to an end. She probably dealt with rude customers every day and hadn't given Thorin a single thought once she'd obtained the toy. Unlike Thorin, who had replayed the interaction several times, thoughts lingering on the hobbit's honey curls and bright eyes. Was that creepy? She was probably being creepy. 

With a groan of frustration, Thorin set aside her tablet and pushed away from her desk to fetch her coat. 

"I'm taking lunch," she informed Dwalin on her way past his office, tugging the knitted gloves from her pockets in preparation for the chill weather that waited outside. In the elevator she put on her hat, then took it off again, catching her reflection in the mirrored doors. At least today she'd done her braids and brushed out her hair properly. 

Bag End Games & Toys was not far from Erebor's headquarters, but it was far enough that Thorin did not want to walk in the cold. Perhaps another day, in the spring-- not that she would ever really need to return to the shop, and not that she was thinking about that-- but not in mid-December, even if the sidewalks had been cleared of snow and ice. 

She parked half a block away and forced herself not to check her hair in the rearview mirror. It would be fine. This wasn't a date, this was a transaction, and Miss Baggins probably didn't care how a random dwarf customer looked.

She was probably already married anyway. From what Thorin knew about hobbits they tended to marry early in life. She couldn't imagine one like Bilbo Baggins failing to find a suitor if she wanted one. In any case, whether she wanted one or didn't, that wasn't any of Thorin's business. She wasn't going to try and flirt with a woman who was just trying to do her job.

Thorin wasn't sure she could even flirt if she wanted to. How did people do it? How did hobbits do it? Was it different from flirting between dwarves? Did that matter, as she wasn't precisely an expert at that either?

"Were you going to come in?" The door in front of her opened and Thorin realized that she had been standing outside of the shop thinking for some time. Long enough for the subject of her thoughts to come investigate. Miss Baggins smiled at her, stepping aside welcomingly. "I have that Warg for you."

"Yes, er--" Thorin scratched at her short beard, feeling embarrassed. "I was just, uh. Looking at the stonework, here. On the building, I mean. I'm an architect."

"Are you?" Miss Baggins asked, her smile growing impossibly warmer. "Oh that's-- well I didn't mean to interrupt you, of course. My father built this shop. Designed it and everything... he had help of course, from professionals, he was an academic by trade after all, but most of the design is his work."

The hobbit kept talking as Thorin stepped inside, though she stopped abruptly when the shutting door set off the bell again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on. I'm sure you're eager to get that toy." There was a light blush on her cheeks as she hurried to the counter, Thorin noticed, though she tried not to stare at the other woman. It was hard not to: not only was her countenance sweet and endearing, but she was wearing a long knitted hat, which reached almost all the way down to her knees, the fluffy pom pom at its end brushing against the edge of her skirt. The hat was striped in red and green, but somehow did not look as ridiculous as Thorin assumed it would if she had been wearing it herself.

"Here we are," Miss Baggins said, pulling a tissue paper wrapped parcel from behind the counter. She unwrapped it to reveal a stuffed grey warg, exactly what Thorin had been hoping for. "Now, I wouldn't usually sell something in this condition-- Radaghast said he found it in a charity shop, quite dirtied and with an ear nearly torn off. He cleaned it up and patched the ear. So it's not perfect or in new condition..."

"Puppy," Thorin breathed, amazed.

"Sorry?" Miss Baggins' confusion was adorable, the way both her eyebrows rose at once.

"It's--" Thorin reached out to check, fingers running over the soft fur of the warg's snout before testing the mended ear. "That's what Kili named it. He was going through a phase where anything that walked on four legs was 'puppy'-- dog, cat, horse, what have you-- but his brother tore the ear just last month, by accident. This is the same toy."

"Really?" Miss Baggins' expression turned pleased as she wrapped the toy up again and tucked it into a paper bag bearing the toy shop's logo. "That's wonderful. I'm sure your son will be very happy to have it back."

"Son?" It was Thorin's turn for confusion. "Oh, no, Kili is my nephew. My sister's son. We're very close, but I'm not... I mean, I don't have any children. Or a spouse. Or anything." She bit down on her tongue, cursing herself for adding that extra, irrelevant information. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Miss Baggins said, passing over the bag. She pulled the end of her hat over her shoulder, smiling softly. "I won't charge you for a lost toy."

Thorin blinked at her, startled. "But... your friend, the collector. He charged you something, didn't he?"

"That's between him and I," Miss Baggins said, refusing to budge. Thorin could tell by the set of her shoulders that it was a lost argument. She would have gladly paid double the worth of the toy, just to make Kili happy. Still, she had to press.

"This means a lot," she murmured, glancing down at the neatly wrapped package tucked into the bag. "Won't you consider letting me repay you?"

Miss Baggins took a moment to reply, still fiddling with the tail of her hat, Thorin was so surprised that she hadn't refused immediately that she looked up again, and was caught by the hobbit's warm gaze.

"Coffee?" Miss Baggins asked, the word slightly uncertain. "Or, I suppose tea, or the hot beverage of your choice? That is-- would you like to go and have... with me? Sometime?"

Thorin never claimed to know how to flirt with anyone, but Miss Baggins’ intention was clear enough.

"I'd love to."

 

~

"Bilbo?" 

Startled out of her reverie, Bilbo put down the receipts she'd been fidgeting with. Thorin stood before her, looking concerned, and Bilbo's eyes flicked to the clock. Goodness, was it really already seven? She needed to lock up.

"I hope it's not the thought of our date that's put that look on your face," Thorin teased gently, reaching out to squeeze her hand. Bilbo smiled and shook her head. This was to be their third date, but it felt already like they had known each other for much longer than that. "Then what's bothering you, ghivashel?"

Bilbo hesitated, not because she didn't trust Thorin or because she thought her girlfriend wouldn't understand, but because saying the words aloud made the situation much more real. 

"It's the shop," she admitted finally. "I thought Bofur and Bifur's toys would liven things up, and there have been a few more customers, but it's not enough. The winter holidays should be the busiest season, but I'm barely scraping by. If things don't turn around, I'll have to sell."

She dreaded the thought of selling to Thranduil, but he'd made the offer more than once and had a record for turning failing stores into profitable ones, even if they were all cookie cutter replicas of each other. 

Thorin came around the counter, tugging Bilbo gently closer and wrapping her arms around her in a warm embrace. "It won't come to that," she promised. "You'll figure something out, and I'll help if I can. You made an announcement about the Ur toys on social media, right?"

Bilbo wrinkled her nose and rested her cheek against Thorin's breast. "I did. But it's just my friends who saw that and I can't expect a handful of people to solely finance the shop."

"What about the shop's media pages?" Thorin asked. When Bilbo didn't reply, she gently disentangled them and stepped back. "Bilbo, Bag End does have a social media presence, doesn't it?"

"My parents never..." Bilbo fidgeted with her hat. "And I don't know how to do all of that! The only reason I got Facebook myself was so that all of my relatives would stop pestering me about it!"

Thorin laughed, but it was fond and sweet, so Bilbo found she couldn't be too annoyed by it. She pressed a kiss to Bilbo's cheek. "You close up the shop, then meet me outside. I've got an idea."

Bilbo set the shop to rights in record time and quickly bundled up in her warm wool coat to meet Thorin. She couldn't imagine what idea Thorin might have had that didn't involve heading upstairs to her little apartment over the shop to work on creating some kind of social media page for Bag End, but apparently Thorin had something up her sleeve. They held hands on the trek to Thorin's car, Bilbo enduring Thorin's well intentioned fretting over her bare feet and the chill sidewalk with a small smile. 

Ten minutes later, they pulled up outside a house on a quiet suburban street. Thorin had kept mum about their destination the whole way there, despite Bilbo's questions, but finally it seemed she was ready to provide some answers, as she turned off the car but made no move to get out just yet.

"I don't understand," Bilbo said, glancing between the house and her girlfriend. "Is this your place?"

"It's my sister's. I think she can help you and Bag End. Before she had Fili and Kili, Dis worked in public relations for Erebor. She's been looking for a way to get back to work part time... obviously we could easily make a position for her, but she said she wants to work from home and, uh. That it's much too stressful to work for a family as stubborn as ours. So I thought maybe..."

"Your sister's?" Bilbo repeated, voice pitched high. "But Thorin I'm not-- I don't have a gift, I didn't even brush my  _hair_  for Yavanna's sake, you can't just spring this on me!"

Thorin had spoken at length about her own family, and Bilbo had met some of her cousins when they had insisted on visiting Bag End, but this was something entirely different. What if they didn't like her? What if they didn't like hobbits? She had hoped, of course, that this meeting would come one day, but she hadn't expected it to come today when she was completely unprepared!

"You don't have to worry about impressing her. She already loves you for finding Puppy. And the boys have wanted to meet you ever since they found out you wrote the Quest picture books."

"I don't know," Bilbo protested. "It seems rude just to drop in on them like this. They're probably having dinner or something! Like we should be, but somewhere else. Where we're not bothering them."

Thorin turned in her seat, taking both of Bilbo's hands in her own. "We don't have to go in, if you really don't want to," she said, thumbs stroking over the backs of Bilbo's hands. "But I called ahead, and Dis said she'd be happy to host us for dinner. Vili always makes too much anyway, and the boys are still picky about food so there will be plenty. I can tell her we changed our plans, though, if you want. We can come back a different day."

Bilbo glanced at the house again. It was a cheerful looking place, lit by the warm light pouring from the windows. "Do you really think she'll be able to help Bag End? I can't exactly put her on payroll..."

"I'm sure you can come to some kind of agreement," Thorin nodded. She then gave Bilbo a teasing smile. "And did I mention that Vili is an excellent cook?"

Bilbo's stomach gurgled and she glanced down at it, betrayed. 

"All right, let's get this over with."

~

Dis' home was warm and loud: those were the strongest impressions that Bilbo got upon entering the house. Thorin hadn't bothered knocking, just opened the door and stepped inside, tugging Bilbo in along after her.

"Dis, we're here," Thorin shouted, even as she began to strip out of her overcoat and boots. Bilbo fumbled her own gloves off, tucking them into her pockets before undoing the buttons on her coat. 

"Aunt Thorin!" Two pairs of little feet stampeded toward them and Bilbo stepped back instinctively, even as Thorin dropped her coat to catch the two dwarflings that came barreling around the corner. The little ones knocked her onto her bum with their enthusiasm, and Bilbo couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Fili, Kili, this is Bilbo," Thorin said, once she'd given a bristly kiss to each of the boys in her arms. The boys turned shy when they finally noticed Bilbo, who was charmed by the sight. "She wrote those books you like so much, remember?"

"And you saved Puppy!" the littlest boy said, grinning up at her. She noticed the stuffed animal in question was tucked beneath his arm and nodded. Immediately the little dwarf wiggled out of his aunt's grip and threw his arms around Bilbo's knees. "Thanks Miss Bibo!"

"Yeah," Fili agreed, scrambling up to embrace her as well, his little grin of relief revealing a missing tooth. "Thank you!" 

Behind Thorin, the door opened again, letting in a blast of cold air and revealing two more dwarves. 

"What're you doing on the floor?" One of the newcomers asked Thorin gruffly, barely sparing Bilbo a glance.

"Dwalin!" Fili threw his arms up before Thorin could respond, and the dwarf, taller than any Bilbo had seen before, cracked a grin and hefted the child up onto his shoulders. Kili abandoned Bilbo in an instant as well, nearly climbing Dwalin's broad frame before the dwarf scooped him up as well. 

"Good evening. I don't believe we've met?" Dwalin's companion was a much more reasonable size, with a long fluffy beard and a welcoming smile. "Balin, at your service. The brute is my brother Dwalin."

"Er-- Bilbo," Bilbo said, offering a hand instinctively. "Bilbo Baggins, at yours." Beside her, Thorin finally scrambled to her feet, dusting off her jeans with a few brusque pats. 

"Balin, this is my girlfriend," Thorin said, and it was amazing how Bilbo's cheeks still flushed a bit at being introduced so. "Bilbo, this is my cousin. Balin, what are you doing here?"

"We were invited for dinner." Balin held up the two bottles of wine in his hands, as though that explained everything.

"Dis..." Thorin whirled, only to find her sister watching her mischievously from the hall.

"To be fair, when you asked if you and Bilbo could join us for dinner, you didn't ask who else would be here," she said with a laugh. Strolling forward, Dis took one of Bilbo's hands and shook it gently. She and Thorin looked remarkably similar. If Bilbo hadn't known that dwarves were incapable of having twins, she would have assumed they shared a birthday. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Bilbo. Hope you don't mind a crowd."

"Soup's up!" A new voice called, as yet another dwarf stepped into the small entry way. "Well, it's not soup, but you get the idea. Why are we all standing around the door?"

"That's my spouse Vili," Dis smiled, nodding toward the newcomer. "They made a huge pot roast, so I hope you're hungry. And I take it you've already met the boys?"

"I have," Bilbo acknowledged faintly. She groped for Thorin's hand, needing something to ground her in the middle of this crowd. "Thank you for inviting us."

"Of course." Dis gave her another smile and then pushed at Dwalin to get him moving in the right direction. "All right you lot, out! Out of my doorway. Dwalin, you and the boys set the table. Balin, drinks duty as usual. Thorin, show Bilbo the house. We serve in five!"

~

Dinner was wonderful. The roast was succulent, the potatoes filling, the entire table covered in various other side dishes that Vili had put together last minute upon hearing that they would be having more guests. There were three whole pies in the kitchen waiting for dessert and Bilbo was trying very hard not to break down.

The chatter, the laughter and jokes, the exuberant children-- it all reminded her of Yule with her family in her youth. She and her parents had spent every holiday season traveling between the Baggins and Took families, staying with family and having meals just like this one. They were always festive, joyous affairs. Then, for whatever reason or combination of reasons, those gatherings had grown smaller over the years. Couples married and moved off to celebrate with other relatives, some hobbits moved away; for a few years Bilbo herself was at University. It was too far and too expensive to travel back and forth for every holiday.

Then her parents had died in a car crash on a wet autumn night, and holidays had never really been the same.

"Apple, pecan or chocolate creme pie, Bilbo?" Vili asked, from where they were taking dessert orders near the doorway. Bilbo forced herself to focus, catching Thorin's worried expression in her peripheral. 

"Apple, please." The whole table chuckled at the extravagant expression of disgust Fili made at her pronouncement. Thorin clambered to her feet and tugged her nephew with her to help carry plates.

"Thorin told me about Bag End," Dis said as the trio left the room, leaning forward with both elbows on the table. "I have some ideas already, if you'd like to hear them. I need a pet project-- I'd waive my fee, of course. And Vili has volunteered to do any new graphic design work you need done. They're really quite talented."

In the face of such a generous offer, Bilbo did the only thing there was to do.

She bolted.

~

As soon as she closed the bathroom door behind herself, Bilbo realized what she'd done and was struck by the urge to either cry, scramble out of the tiny bathroom window and never speak to Thorin and her family again, or do the latter at the same time as the former. She managed a half step inside, before crumpling down against the wall behind the door and burying her face in her knees. They were all being so kind, so... welcoming and generous and accepting; it was so wonderful and now she'd ruined it by running away. She'd gotten overwhelmed like a fauntling and had left without so much as a word.

Dis would probably retract her offer and Thorin,  _oh_  Thorin would be so embarrassed by her and horrified that she'd acted this way. Bilbo tugged the tail of her hat into her lap, pressing the pompom end to her face and thinking of her parents. They would have loved Thorin's family. Well, Belladonna would have. Bungo would have found them nice enough and stuck around for the sake of his wife and daughter. He and Balin and Vili probably would have gotten on rather well. They'd have been so touched by what these dwarfs were offering to do for Bag End. 

Well, it didn't really matter now, because they probably all thought she hated them. She was going to have to sell Bag End and she'd end up all alone on Yule, which would be even more miserable now that she'd had a reminder of how wonderful it could be. 

There was a knock on the door. She wiped her eyes quickly on the tail of her hat and considered pretending not to exist. But someone else probably needed the loo.

"Bilbo?" The door creaked open-- in her haste, Bilbo had forgotten to lock it-- and Thorin peeked into the room. "I... I brought your pie."

She finally spotted where Bilbo was still crouched on the floor and quickly stepped inside, closing the door again. After a moment of uncertainty, she set the pie plate down on the edge of the vanity and then lowered herself beside Bilbo.

"I don't know what Dis said, but I'm sorry. She... she said she didn't know what upset you, but I know she can be..."

"No," Bilbo said quickly, shaking her head. "No, I just-- I'm sorry, that was so rude of me. She didn't say anything bad."

Thorin frowned at her. "Bilbo, you're hiding in the bathroom. She must've said something."

Bilbo blushed horribly, because surely Thorin wouldn't understand if she explained it. It wasn't exactly understandable, really. What could she say? 'I fled because everyone was too nice to me' wouldn't make any sense at all. As she fretted, Thorin put an arm around her, pulling her close. For the moment, she seemed content to let them settle in silence. 

"My mother made this hat," Bilbo said finally, still fingering the pompom end of the long striped hat. "It's a-- well, it's sort of a Took tradition, for the holidays. To wear this kind of hat. I don't know how it started, but she made me this one before I left for University. I... I was sort of insistent on being independent then, said I wasn't going to come home for every holiday. Only for the summers, when term ended. So she made me a hat so I could celebrate there."

Thorin, bless her, just made a soft noise of acknowledgement and held her closer.

"Last winter, right after they-- after the crash, I spent Yule in Tuckborough, with the Tooks. It... wasn't the same. Without them, I mean. And then this whole year since, with my family being far away, and having to run the shop, I haven't been able to visit like I wanted. I've been kind of... alone. For a long time, doing things on my own, working hard to make it all on my own."

She straightened a bit, turning to face Thorin and tell her seriously, "Your sister didn't insult me, or anything like that. I just..."

"You realized you're not alone anymore?" Thorin suggested, when she failed to find the words to finish that sentence. There was a soft, sad smile on her lips. "That you don't have to do everything by yourself?"

Bilbo nodded, struggling to hold back tears. "And now I've gone and ruined it by running off."

"You haven't ruined anything, Bilbo," Thorin said firmly, leaning in to press scruffy kisses to both her cheeks. "This family is a lot harder to get rid of than that." She squeezed her close, nuzzling into her neck comfortingly.  "And wanted to ask anyway, but I didn't want to pressure you... will you spend the holidays with us?"

Startled, Bilbo opened her eyes, leaning back for a moment. "Do you mean that?"

"There will be more of us," Thorin said, nodding. "Dwalin's boyfriend and his family, and Gloin and Oin, too. But I'd like you to come. I don't want you to be alone."

Bilbo leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I'd like that."


End file.
